What if Christmas doesn't come from a store?
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?
It came without ribbons.
It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
"What if Christmas", he thought, "doesn't come from a store?
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?"
What are you doing this Christmas that doesn't mainly involve a store?
We are:
-visiting nursing homes to play Christmas music
-making cookies
-baking bread to give to neighbors
-decorating together
-listening to lots of Christmas music
-making lots of our own Christmas music
-being sure to enjoy our decorations, even while we do school
-working on some handmade gifts, hoping to be done early for once!
How about you?
p.s. I'm not against shopping for gifts... I do it myself! I just think we need to make time for non-shopping Christmas activities too, because usually, that's the stuff memories are made of.
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Today's 365 post: Dear Pepper Plant,
Joshua's 365 post: Our newly decorated tree!
It's the memories that I think about not the gifts from my childhood.It's the traditions that we had and the new ones we are making now.That's what we will remember.
We have always tried to emphasize these kinds of things at Christmas. My kids are almost all grown now, but over the years we have:
1) invited friends who couldn't do it on their own to make "gingerbread" (graham cracker) house with us
2) given the houses to the workers in our gated community (we lived in South America) or shut ins
3) made cookies together
4) always decorated the tree all together while eating homemade popcorn
5) listened to lots of Christmas music
6) found free Christmas concerts to attend
7) took part in Sunday School Christmas programs
8) have a carol singing party
9) go to different malls to see the lights and have a cup of hot chocolate
10) have a "lets relax before the holidays" party and served soup and watched a good Christmas movie together
11) Had a 10 day Christmas devotional with Bible stories, cross stitch pieces to put on the "calendar", and carols
12) wore as much red and green as we could all month
13) the girls and I have Christmas necklaces with bells
14) spend Christmas eve day working all day together on the meal for the next day
I think I could come up with more! Thanks for the memories!
We go down to my mom's every year and help her bake cookies for Christmas, we make our own cards by stamping, gluing, coloring, etc, we make our own ornaments to keep or give, we have snowball fights, we sing very loudly and off-key to any Christmas music we hear, my son writes his own verses to traditional songs, we bake our own cookies, breads and candies to give away to neighbors/friends, we snuggle by our woodstove and read numerous Christmas stories, and sometimes we just sit and play with the nativity set or the village under our tree and talk about the meaning of
Christmas....that's some of the things we do that doesn't come from a store! God bless you/family and have a very Merry Christmas!
Oops I forgot the one thing we really like to do is to get bundled up and take our dog for a long walk at night, when it is super quiet and everyone has their Christmas lights on...very pretty and very frugal! 🙂
Those are the things that I remember most fondly. The gifts have come and gone, but memories and traditions last. Decorating the tree, singing at Christmas Mass, Baking cookies, and spending time with family.
Yes! My two favorite things as a child were decorating the tree and making Christmas cookies.
- Decorating the tree this coming Saturday 🙂
- Christmas party on Saturday night
- Baking cookies that my kids love and just like you, giving away quick breads to the neighbors (I suspect your breads are not quick breads, however 🙂 ).
- My dad is treating my girls and I to a wonderful dinner next Saturday night and then taking us to see White Christmas. Sooo fun!!
- More Christmas parties
Yes, I usually bake yeast breads, just because I know there are more people who can bake quick breads than who can bake yeast breads! And honestly, I've been doing it for so long, in some ways it seems easier to me than a quick bread.
The church I grew up in was forced to close near the end of my senior year of high school due to very low membership and financial difficulty. By the end, services had become very informal due to the small numbers of people in attendance, and notably the choir members no longer donned robes, prepared a weekly anthem, etc. That last Christmas, we had only our little Chrismon tree--no poinsettias, no wreaths, candlelight vigils or Christmas Day services , and no cantata or other prepared music. Spontaneously, after the service had started on the last Sunday before Christmas, my mother whispered to the musical director (a professional for whom our little congregation was a side gig) if she could sing an anthem and he said 'of course.' And so, without sheet music or any preparation, he accompanied her on the piano as she flawlessly belted out "O Holy Night."
So, that's not a tradition, but it is a reminder that sometimes the things that "just happen" are as significant as the things we "always do." If you get overly focused on making sure you do all the things you "always do," you might miss the opportunity to see or do something that will never happen again. 🙂
Love it!! My greatest childhood memory of Christmas, is my grandfather reading the Christmas Story from the bible. I do that now with my kids on Christmas Eve.
Continuing to sort through the Xmas decorations so that the remaining ones have meaning. Usually this means ones bought while on a trip somewhere, but there are homemade ones also.
Helping kids decorate gingerbread houses. Not that I get any pleasure in that at all. Oh, no. Definitely not.
Caroling party with an alumni group.
Baking: for work, for friends, for charity, at my friend's annual day-long cookie extravaganza. Good thing the price of butter has dropped.
Avoiding the stores, although not the internet.
Hosting family for Xmas dinner. Hoping to host a couple of "orphan" military members as well.
WilliamB,
Please tell me more about hosting orphan military members!
Thank you!
I have military friends who are going to make the connection for me: I asked if they know of any military folk who won't be getting home and who aren't on duty. The prototypical such person is young, unmarried or away from his/her family, and likely enlisted.
Assuming you don't have this sort of connection but are near a military base ("near" being defined as someone might be willing to travel that far for Xmas dinner), I recommend contacting the base chaplain's office or the USO. If you're not near a base, the USO or a military support organization (VFW, Navy Relief, etc.) may be able to help link you up with former military. If you're near an airport, contact the USO to see if they have a presence at the airport and if they want anything special for military members who are unlucky enough to be traveling that day.
Thank you right back!
You can apply this to more than the military: I used to do it for students; now I welcome any friend who for whatever reason can't be with their own family at Christmas. It's wonderful to include new faces in the celebration.
This is one of the nicest ideas I have every heard. You are awesome WilliamB.
I can't take credit for it but I'm pleased it's getting a new audience.
This year I'm particularly broke (I'm doing an unpaid internship required to finish up my master's degree), so I offered to strip the wallpaper in my parents' kitchen and paint the walls and trim for them as a Christmas gift (honestly, I would have done it anyways! But the only way my mom would let me is if I called it a Christmas gift!). My fiance and I did that for them last weekend, and they were beyond happy to have it done. Gifts of needed jobs can be really nice - I think if someone gave me a card that said "one month of doing your laundry" I'd keel over with excitement! 🙂
What an excellent, considerate, really welcome gift! The frugality and lack of consumerism doesn't hurt, either.
yeah, this is just so lovely, really so sweet amongst so many thoughtful ideas and traditions listed here. I have to remember NOT to get stressed -- this is the kind of gifting and celebration to enjoy.
Here are the two best gifts I have ever received: a load of horse poop, delivered and spread on the garden, and a coupon for 20 hours of garden labor, to be redeemed whenever I wanted it. Oh, yes, and a case of toilet paper when I was particularly poor.
Best gift I ever gave my mother was a large empty box.
That is an excellent idea!
Niiice! I'd totally have loved to get that as a gift a few years back. I stripped SO much wallpaper.
We ride around different neighborhoods each night in December to look at lights. We go to a local indoor christmas display (it's free). We help by donating to local charities. This year, my mom passed away so it's our first Christmas without her. We are going to make a yearly Christmaa gift to the American Cancer Society and donate a book to our library every year in her memory. I love non- store Christmas activities!
I'm making most of my presents this year. I actually have the most money for gifts this year that I've had for years, but I would rather make them at this point. I've dyed piles of yarn and I'm knitting a project where I spun at least half of the yarn.
We are Hannukah people! My family is going to purchase 40plus cans of food, that will be part of thousands of cans of food collected by our three Jewish congregations and the JCC in town. On the first night of Hannukah, after we light the candles and eat dinner, about 40 volunteers will convene at the local mall where we will construct a giant "Canorah" out of the cans in the center of the mall. It will be the focal point of a huge Hannukah event the next night, with singing, games, etc. That is open to people of all faiths. The best part: after our celebration, thousands of cans go straight to our local food bank, to help our brothers and sisters who are hungry during this holiday season.
Canorah -- hah!! Lovely ideas for Christmas -- I need to get donations to food banks in gear -- thanks for the reminder!
Oops, forgot to say that mine is a mixed family so we kind of conflate Hannukah and Christmas and both have very lovely and meaningful traditions. Enjoy your event! This is such a timely and helpful post from FG -- I really needed to hear this today!
We're in a mixed family, too. Muslim and Christian. We have to go an extra mile to stretch dollars and enjoy those special moments each holiday brings. Planning ahead is the best things I've begun...shopping ahead on clearance, planning activities, special foods, decorations. We save so much that way. I've been giving chocolate-nut-caramel popcorn bark for Christmas gifts lately. I make it with colorful sprinkes, wrap it up, put it on a pretty keepsake plate and give it with a handmade card (and heartfelt message.). It's all about the love, and not the stuff! 🙂
Just wanted to say, we watched the Grinch the other night, and this part sparked a great little lesson with the kids. They're young (7,5 & 3), so they wanted to know what it meant by "It came without packages, boxes, or bags".
this weekend i am making fudge, caramel, honeycomb, ginger cookies, and maple sugar cookies to give to all my friends, coworkers, and swim coach as gifts on monday. i usually host a cookie exchange, but wasn't feeling up for it this year. as for my parents, i'm paying for travel expenses so mom can spend christmas with my husband and me.
We will be taking it easy and spending the time visiting with relatives. I'm most looking forward to the child-free parties and subsequent child-free nights (and sleeping in!). That's pretty much my idea of the best gift from our parents!
I am also Jewish and many of the MDs and others I know volunteer to work Christmas day so that others can be with their families. The school at my JCC is collecting warm winter clothes to give to those who are in need and the youth group where I pray will be spending Dec 25 at a homeless shelter preparing and serving and cleaning up after Christmas lunch. Then they will go home and light their menorahs.
A lot of time it is about what you give.
My fondest childhood christmas memory is decorating the tree. Nearly all of the ornaments were home-made so decorating turned into a story telling adventure of where all of the ornaments came from/what they meant. Our tradition now is home made pancakes on Christmas morning. (It's fun to make them snowman shaped!)
I'm making handmade gifts, because I can't afford to buy gifts (I'm in-between jobs right now).
I'm also sponsoring a young teenager (via a ministry at my church) who lives in a rural community here in the area. She needs warm winter clothing. So I'm making her a hat, mittens. I did buy a cardigan, because that would be too much to knit. It's really nice to do things for other people...but I have to be honest, that I do receiving the blessing of lots of joy, when I'm doing for others 😉 🙂
Have a great day. Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 🙂
I love the Grinch.
We are...
renting our tree.
making the majority of our gifts.
gathering or making our decorations too.
reveling in the time we do spend shopping when it is done in the company of good friends (or Husbands) while patronizing small businesses.
Hosting a Christmas Party for all our favorite people.
loving the act of sending and receiving cards from even more of my favorite people.
wearing scarves and singing (badly) every chance I get.
How does renting a tree work?
How bizarre! I awoke today to snow and while taking photos of the yard I decided to take a shot of my "gringy feet ice cold in the snow" I actually used that line on a blog post for tomorrow...great minds, huh? LOL
Oh I'm feeling all Christmassy (be sure to tell Joshua I used his word)! Our Christmas doesn't come from a shop (store), it consists of home-made Christmas puds, letters to Santa and thinking of others, as well as making chutney, our own decorations and the bedtime fairy delivering some special jammies. This week we have finished off the decorations (that will be gifted to others) as well as having fetched and decorated our own tree. I am working my way to getting the gifts all wrapped up (pardon the pun) but it isn't top priority. There's nothing like a home-made Christmas, with lot's of memories made to match!
My non store activities include making cookies, listening to Christmas music, decorating the house (we're foregoing a tree this year.) We are also going to spend about a week with my boyfriend's family, from right before Christmas until Dec 30th.
Since I am young, single, and have no family to speak of I decided to make a trip across town to costco and fillup the car with tioletries, paper products, and FRESH foods and take them to the local homeless shelter. There are a lot of canned food drives around but I keep a small pantry so was going to go the grocery to buy some cans to donate, then I called the shelter and asked if they would like some large bulk packages of meat and fruit. They were ecstatic at the ideabut don't usually ask folks foor those things since they are expensive and require the person to drop off directly at the shelter to avoid spoilage.
So I did not avoid the store but I think this still counts! 🙂
I am taking this Christmas to actually do most of our time of embracing the true meaning of this season...Jesus, not stressing over shopping, I mean come on this is suppose to be the most magical time and blessed time of the year, we are to bless others and be joyful. I don't want my kids to remember Christmas in our home about "stuff" and mommy going nuts over "getting it all done" I don't even stress over an Advent calander, even though I think there wonderful, but for me this year, I can't even have the thought of looking at it every night and the kids expecting us to do what the activity says we have to do. We do sit down during the week to read scripture about what God brought us as a gift, and enjoying the music of the Lord and having fun decorating and making and eating lots of cookies. I truly enjoy your blog and it's the main one I follow, I think because I can relate to you more than other bloggers! Merry Christmas, and keep up the wonderful reminders of how the Lord is what is most important in life!
"mommy going nuts over "getting it all done""
This is SO important. My husband hates Christmas because his mom always turned it into a time of stress by trying to do too much - too many presents, too many cookies to the neighbors (up ALL NIGHT baking), too much food, and through it all no time to enjoy the season with her sons, whose memory is now of their mom stressing out, not happy family times.
~Took my mom to the local Nutcracker production last weekend
~Canning rhubarb chutney as gifts for my book club and knitting group
~Knitting cowls and hats for nieces and nephews
~Folding origami lights for another gift
~my husband will be baking stollen, his family's traditional holiday bread
~cutting a Christmas tree from our property and decorating this weekend
Can I somehow convince my sister that this is what we need to do?
Send her the link to this post? 🙂
I wish she would take it with the spirit that it's intended. sigh.
Christmas cookies are always a hit at my house. I'm making many of them tonight but I save the more complicated (and fun to decorate) shortbreads for when kiddo is awake.
And on Saturday we'll walk in the Christmas Parade.
I wonder if Jesus ever celebrated his birthday or anyones birthday for that matter. It's sad how we invent things and lebel them as religious practice. Christans need to pay attention to what Jesus did, try to implement them in daily life, not run around to light the house, get the biggest tree to decorate and waste money on gifts.
I don't know what traditional birthday celebrations might have existed at that time, but the Bible has several stories of Jesus attending feasts and celebrations, including weddings, traditional local festivals, and Jewish holidays such as Passover, as a way to spend time with people and talk about His message. Often these times of plenty and happiness and celeberation make the messages more poignant both to a reader/listener and, one might imagine, any who were present.
We can do the same thing today, regardless of who we are: experience celebration while remembering why we're celebrating. Just like weddings, festivals, and any other holidays--even municipal ones like Independence Day!--if the celebration itself becomes the entire focus, that's when you lose the meaning. 🙂
I don't celebrate birthdays because Jesus did. 🙂 I celebrate birthdays because it's a whole lot of fun and because I see nothing in the Bible (either specific or in principle) that prohibits it.
I am well aware of the fact that Christmas is a man-made holiday, so I don't really celebrate it with a whole lot of religious significance. To me, it's more about the fun and tradition. It's not that I think that thinking about Jesus' birth is bad...it's just that we Christians ought to be thinking about Jesus' incarnation all year long, not just in December.
Have you watched Advent Conspiracy? Anyways, I agree wholeheartedly. I love the idea of acts of service as gifts. My little sister and her husband have offered to watch the kids for me both as a birthday and Christmas gift this year. I can't tell you how wonderful of a gift that has been! As we've been going through our advent calendar this year, I've really tried to focus not on the getting but on the true reason for the season and how we can celebrate that each day.